Station #10: Life Stinks CONTEXT Life Stinks, released in 1991, is a comedy written, directed, and starring comedian Mel Brooks. Brooks remains famous for writing, directing, and starring in parody films. Life Stinks represents a major departure for Brooks, who wanted to produce an original story, filled with social commentary. It bombed in theatres—ironically because of the economic recession upon which Brooks was commenting.
The United States entered an economic recession in mid-1990. It was mild, compared to other post-war recessions, but was characterized by a slow employment recovery. Unemployment continued to rise through June 1992, even though economic growth had returned the previous year.
Play the series of short video clips below. As you watch and listen, be sure to keep informal notes in your pamphlet. What statements, motifs (recurring images, dialogue, symbols, or idea), and themesimmediately strike you as memorable or exigent (emotionally impactful)? As you watch, keep the following questions in mind. (Do not formally answer them. Use them as a basis for your note-taking.)
How does the protagonist’s journey illustrate specific divisions between classes?
When and where among the film clips do we have representations of “jobs stripped of their halos”?
What does the film suggest needs to happen, on the part of the proletariat, in order to bring about change?
Click here to watch the first clip. Click here to watch the second clip. Click here to watch the third clip.
Finally, engage in a small-group discussion. Each member of the group must contribute to the process by fulfilling an assigned role. Then, in a thoughtful, “MEL-style” short essay response, answer this question:
What specific information should a Marxist critic consider in an analysis of this text? Using that information as evidence, what meaning can we make of this text, using Marxist tenets as our “lenses”?
CONTEXT
Life Stinks, released in 1991, is a comedy written, directed, and starring comedian Mel Brooks. Brooks remains famous for writing, directing, and starring in parody films. Life Stinks represents a major departure for Brooks, who wanted to produce an original story, filled with social commentary. It bombed in theatres—ironically because of the economic recession upon which Brooks was commenting.
The United States entered an economic recession in mid-1990. It was mild, compared to other post-war recessions, but was characterized by a slow employment recovery. Unemployment continued to rise through June 1992, even though economic growth had returned the previous year.
Play the series of short video clips below. As you watch and listen, be sure to keep informal notes in your pamphlet. What statements, motifs (recurring images, dialogue, symbols, or idea), and themes immediately strike you as memorable or exigent (emotionally impactful)? As you watch, keep the following questions in mind. (Do not formally answer them. Use them as a basis for your note-taking.)
How does the protagonist’s journey illustrate specific divisions between classes?
When and where among the film clips do we have representations of “jobs stripped of their halos”?
What does the film suggest needs to happen, on the part of the proletariat, in order to bring about change?
Click here to watch the first clip. Click here to watch the second clip. Click here to watch the third clip.
Finally, engage in a small-group discussion. Each member of the group must contribute to the process by fulfilling an assigned role. Then, in a thoughtful, “MEL-style” short essay response, answer this question:
What specific information should a Marxist critic consider in an analysis of this text? Using that information as evidence, what meaning can we make of this text, using Marxist tenets as our “lenses”?